Article from BTNews 16 SEPTEMBER 2019
Virgin A350 enters service
A month and a day after its delivery from Airbus, Virgin Atlantic’s new A350-1000 (below) – named Red Velvet – entered revenue service last week between Heathrow and New York JFK.
The aircraft is the first of 12 A350 set to join the Virgin fleet, with the airline planning to operate most of them on premium destinations such as New York and Los Angeles. Five are configured for leisure destinations such as Florida and the Caribbean.
As the fifth operator of the A350-1000, Virgin joins an exclusive club of other operators that includes launch operator Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, Etihad Airways and British Airways.
With 336 seats, the aircraft is second in capacity only to the Boeing B747-400 and has the second greatest number of Upper (Business) Class seats, 44, one fewer than the Airbus A340-600.
After the aircraft proves itself on JFK, Los Angeles will become the next Virgin A350 destination, although the airline has so far not set a date for the launch (BTN 19 August).
Meanwhile, Virgin is busy planning its new daily Heathrow – São Paulo service, which it said last week will begin on 29 March. The 11hr 5min flight will be operated by the Boeing B787-9 Dreamliner.
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Moataz Elobaid Ali, Saudi Arabia/Riyadh
good news hope will increase the load and keep the luxury service as usual